Chidimma Uchegbu -Abuja
The Minister of Livestock Development, Idi Maiha, has started infrastructural development of Kawu grazing reserve in the Federal Capital Territory.
Speaking to journalists after inspecting the ongoing projects at the Kawu Grazing Reserve in Bwari Area Council, the Minister said, the grazing reserve is about 9,000 hectares of land, and has, “from our own estimation, about 30,000 heads of cattle with more than 10,000 human beings in this grazing reserve.”
He said the, “The dam you have seen there needs to be desilted. We also need to create a spillway so that the water can be released in a major quantity to irrigate the land that we have seen in that area. We are also going to talk to the security agencies.”
Maiha said the grazing reserve plays host to over 10,000 herders and their families, adding that the development process will be rapid including a 15 kilometer road, solar-powered boreholes, dam, irrigation facility, schools, solar power, healthcare facility, security, pasture and manure production centres, markets, and others.
“We have also come with a rig. You have practically seen that this is the first borehole in this area since this grazing reserve was created. You could see the excitement in the small children. Women were celebrating. Elders were shaking their heads in amazement that this is happening in their lifetime. We are going to give them a borehole, and this is just a pilot one.
“We are going to sink, from our own assessment, about five to six motorized boreholes that are going to serve portable drinking water for domestic utilization as well as animal consumption. We have come here again to demonstrate practically seed cultivation, pasture cultivation. I personally cultivated some portions of land here. I plowed it with a tractor.
“We have come with some quantity of Napier grass that we are going to distribute to all the livestock in this area. What are we saying? We are saying that this grazing reserve is going to come alive. We have already had some consultations with a lot of stakeholders.”
The Minister promised to engage his colleagues in Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation, Federal Capital Territory Development, Ministry of Power, and other agencies.
“Number one, we signed an agreement with the Rural Electrification Agency, REA, to bring solar power to this area. As soon as I go back, I am going to give them the green light. They are going to come to solarize all the settlements you have seen here.
“We have already spoken to UBEC, Universal Primary Education Commission. They will also come here. Primary schools exist here. Where they are dilapidated, they will be rehabilitated. Where they are understaffed with teachers, teachers will be brought.
“We have seen a large number of school children in this area. We have also spoken to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, they are going to come with primary health care here in this area for the families of everybody that is visiting in this area. What is more, we are also going to talk to the Ministry of Water Resources.
“These people here, by the time you have 30,000 heads of cattle and more, because many of those cattle are going to be relocated from the city center into the grazing reserve but this could be the first point of call. So we need the security presence in this area.
“We are also in very good conversation with the Federal Capital Territory Administration under the able leadership of Barrister Nyesom Wike. There is a stretch of road that is about 15 kilometers that has to be asphalted, rehabilitated, as well as internal road networks.
“We are going to also talk to Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project, RAAM, under the World Bank project to come here and do this, and again, we also have Livestock Productivity Resilience Project under the World Bank. This L-PRES is under the Ministry of Livestock.
“Many of these projects are going to be done under LPRES. I have not mentioned one, and that’s one of the most important ones, which also L-PRES is going to do, and that is the provision of a functional veterinary clinic in this area. So that means that we have all the resources, all the infrastructure that is required for sustainable livestock production in this area.”
He also expressed optimism that, “If all those things come to happen, anybody who wants to process milk, wants to process dairy, anybody who wants to go into red meat, anybody who wants to go into organic manure manufacturing, we are going to have 30,000 plus heads of cattle in this area. This is going to become an economic hub for everybody.
“This is the way to go. In the whole, this is Renewed Hope Agenda translated. It’s no longer a campaign gimmick, it is the reality, and It has been decoded ‘Here, ‘Renewed Hope Agenda is in the field’, boots on the ground. This is the way to go.
“With all these improvement projects, we are going to create livestock, Renewed Hope Livestock Villages all over the 417 grazing reserves we have in this country and many more going forward.”
If the ministry is remodelling about 417 green areas, LPRESS is coming with our own activities so that we support what the ministry and what the government is doing.We are coming with a lot of activities to do with the provision of water, pasture, animal health, and pasture, which is very critical, pasture and water, to reduce the drivers of conflict. These two are the main drivers of conflict. And if we are getting it right, I believe we will reduce the conflict.Thank you.
The Director, Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project, L-PRES, Dr Sanusi Abubakar, assured that the infrastructural development disclosed by the Minister will be actualized.
“If the ministry is remodelling about 417 green areas, L-PRES is coming with our own activities so that we support what the ministry and what the government is doing.
“We are coming with a lot of activities to do with the provision of water, pasture, animal health, and pasture, which is very critical, pasture and water, to reduce the drivers of conflict. These two are the main drivers of conflict, and if we are getting it right, I believe we will reduce the conflict.
“This signalling the commencement of the master plan. The livestock master plan is an old and compulsive document, and certainly, pasture, water, provision of basic amenities are part of the livestock master plan. So, we are starting it, as the Honorable Minister said”, he added.
Meanwhile, the National President,Kulen Allah Cattle Rearers Association of Nigeria, KACRAN, Khalil Mohammed Bello, said herders are ready to relocate to the Kawu grazing reserve.
“We are now extremely happy for being among the people who are enjoying the laudable project of this government policies and programme.
“We are ready to relocate to the Kawu grazing reserve. We accept it in totality”, Bello said.
Also the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Livestock Development, Idris Abiola-Ajimobi, disclosed that N13 billion was approved by the Senate in the 2024 budget for livestock development.
“The current budget as approved by the Senate for 2024 is N13 billion. The minister and myself and other stakeholders through other activities, we have been able to secure partnership and funding from other international developmental partners. So, I think that is where we are.
“The aim of the government is not to wait. We are kick-starting as soon as possible that’s why we started with this pilot project, as earlier mentioned by the minister.
“The aim is once this pilot is completed, we can then go to other states and try and scale up there. But again, that doesn’t mean that just because until this one is complete we wouldn’t start doing the necessary groundwork or research that needs to be done with regards to the other 417 grazing reserves.
“We understand that there is a current crisis going on, there is a demand for food security, and the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, is committed to ensuring that Nigeria is a food secure nation, and we see livestock as a key area to achieving that mission”, Abiola-Ajimobi stated.
